o cease from war, for the Spaniards were his friends and guests
and would presently leave the city of Tenoctitlan. When these cowardly
words had passed his lips, a fury took his subjects, who for long years
had worshipped him as a god, and a shriek rent the air that seemed to
say two words only:

'Woman! Traitor!'

Then I saw an arrow rush upwards and strike the emperor, and after the
arrow a shower of stones, so that he fell down there upon the tower
roof.

Now a voice cried, 'We have slain our king. Montezuma is dead,' and
instantly with a dreadful wailing the multitude fled this way and that,
so that presently no living man could be seen where there had been
thousands.

I turned to comfort Otomie, who was watching at my side, and had seen
her royal father fall, and led her weeping into the palace. Here we met
Guatemoc, the prince, and his mien was fierce and wild. He was fully
armed and carried a bow in his hand.

'Is Montezuma dead?' I asked.

'I neither know nor care,' he answered with a savage laugh, then added:

'Now curse me, Otomie my cousin, for it was my arrow that smote him
down, this king who has become a woman and a traitor, false to his
manhood and his country.'

Then Otomie ceased weeping and answered:

'I cannot curse you, Guatemoc, for the gods have smitten my father
with a madness as you smote him with your arrow, and it is best that
he should die, both for his own sake and for that of his people. Still,
Guatemoc, I am sure of this, that your crime will not go unpunished,
and that in payment for this sacrilege, you shall yourself come to a
shameful death.'

'It may be so,' said Guatemoc, 'but at least I shall not die betraying
my trust;' and he went.

Now I must tell that, as I believed, this was my last day on earth,
for on the morrow my year of godhead expired, and I, Thomas Wingfield,
should be led out to sacrifice. Notwithstanding all the tumult in the
city, the mourning for the dead and the fear that hung over it like a
cloud, the ceremonies of religion and its feasts were still celebrated
strictly, more strictly indeed than ever before. Thus on this night a
festival was held in my honour, and I must sit at the feast crowned
with flowers and surrounded by my wives, while those nobles who remained
alive in the city did me homage, and with them Cuitlahua, who, if
Montezuma were dead, would now be emperor. It was a dreary meal enough,
for I could scarcely be gay though I strove to d